The First Date
by APIII
Summary: After the narrowly-avoided massacre involving Mt. Glenn and Roman, Team RWBY find themselves returning home after a long day's work for a well earned rest. While aura certainly healed their bodies rapidly, the same can't be said for the mind. Realizing that life as a huntress could end any day, Ruby sets out to get her first date, and she knows just the Knight. By Fate and Prick.
1. Chapter 1

Fate: " _ **BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH"**_

Fate: So, anyway, Happy Valentine's Day from Fate, and…

Prick: That Anonymous Prick!

Fate: At least, this was **supposed** to be out on Valentine's Day, but Prick has been rather… yeah, he's been dicking around and he was irresponsible enough to go and get himself sick, _again_.

Fate: This special little one-shot here is actually something I am proud to have worked on. Prick really tried when he actually worked on it. The pure emotional trip and the beautiful fluff wouldn't be possible without him as, according to _someone_ , I am far too serious or just plain dark to perform such an act.

Prick: You brought up death in like, two sentences…

Fate: What's more romantic than the promise to all things? An end. Death is nothing to be sad about when you accept it, just do your best to live your life how you want it before then.

Prick: Shit, like, anything? Hell, sparkly vampires… like you, but sparkly. And a little less drab and depressing… like, seriously, I think your attitude got me this damned cold that was followed up by a Dust damned fever! I had hallucinations, in word form! It was actually about this story… Fevered dreams make the best one shots...Speaking about death, man do we have a lot of that this season of RWBY! And as much as it pains me to watch the proud Arkos ship plummet to the depths of the ocean that is non-canonical, we can all find solace in the fact that we can rechristen the S.S. Lancaster...

Fate: I just find the beauty in madness. And there are very few things with as high of potential in madness than a poor teenage girl with boundless dreams when faced with a bitter taste of what some would call reality. And don't you dare mention Pyrrha's passing! She wasn't the only one who was shot in the heart…. *Places my hand over my chest and closes my eyes.*

Prick: Are you calling me a teenage girl?

Fate: Are you telling me you think I'd call my friend and writer a teenage girl? Oh, and my apologies, readers, I'm not as bad as he makes me out to be, I do enjoy sweet things as much as the next odd guy.

Prick: Fate's right. (He's a lot worse, pretending he has a heart…)

Fate: Pyrrha… I think one of the worst parts is that Cinder hit her in the Achilles Heel, which is who Pyrrha is based off of.

Prick: I think the heart is everyone's Achilles Heel, Fate...that and every cell in our body, which proved to be Pyrrha's ultimate Achilles Heel. That, or her inability to be fireproof, either one really…

Fate: Pay better attention to details, Prick. The only reason she was hit in the heart was because the first arrow hit her in the heel. That, or you used this as an excuse to make jokes.

Prick: What? Moi? Make jokes at your expense? Never! The very thought...

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"Aw, man, I'm sorry for all the jokes, Blake, I take them all back. There's nothing funny about the gloriousness of cat naps." Yang said airily as she stretched her arms high above her head and let out a great yawn. Her Faunus counterpart was far too tired to even think about complaining and merely nodded her head in agreement.

The one and only Schnee Heiress couldn't find the strength to scold the busty blonde for her antics, so, with a nod of her head, she mentally decided to give the girl a piece of her mind at some future juncture. While she was internally praising herself, she realized that their leader was lagging behind. A scowl marred Weiss' face as she realized that there weren't many things that could take the pep of out Ruby - and physical exhaustion wasn't one of them.

Despite the team having a rather happy moment at the end of the day, merely thankful they were all alive, Weiss knew that the day's events may have finally begun to weigh down the girl's mind. Slowing her stroll to a mere amble, the white-haired girl wringed her hands as she found herself uncertain on how to breach the subject.

She wished she could just tell Ruby off, demanding that the younger girl be thankful she survived it all and even managed to do some good, but she knew the Scythe-wielder would see through the ploy and it would ultimately only remind her that she didn't do all the good she could; people died. Some were innocent civilians, others were White Fang soldiers. They didn't directly kill anyone, well, Weiss was certain Ruby didn't. The girl undoubtedly bludgeoned the goons to unconsciousness, like a decent, _naive_ , person, but...

Weiss hesitated for a few steps to find the proper word to describe it. _Naive._ While it didn't perfectly describe Ruby, the word misguided wouldn't exactly cut it either. While Weiss herself had never killed anyone, at least intentionally, she understood that _sometimes_ the only way to save your life and the lives of others was to remove the threat, by… _killing_ … the threat… The life of one delinquent, who could very well be a murderer, for the lives of loved ones and the lives of innocents." ' _I mean, we are protectors..'_ Weiss thought to herself in hopes of convincing herself that her realist beliefs on the subject were justified. ' _What am I doing? I'm supposed to be finding out what's bothering her, not trying to convince myself on the roles of a Huntress._

In the time it took for Weiss to come to terms with herself, Ruby had almost passed her. Remembering the words of her teammates, the white haired girl tried to get rid of her scowl. While everyone who really got to know her knew that it was the default face she made when she was being serious, she still wanted to come off as friendly. Her intentions were noble, after all, and maybe the insufferable dolts that were everybody would finally drop the dreaded moniker Ice Queen.

The Ice Queen flashed Ruby a small smile that almost looked natural, and the short redhead almost hid her befuddlement. They both stared at one another silently in the hall, neither dropping their equally strange faces. After about a minute, Ruby cracked, her lips quivering, the looming smile all but already there for Weiss. They both erupted into a fit of giggles, Ruby openly laughed her heart out as she clenched her gut, while her counterpart managed to cease her actions after only a few seconds by coughing into her fist and playing it all off.

"What'ca need, Weiss?" Ruby asked, a tired but cheerful smile gracing her lips.

"Well, I don't need anything of you right now. Actually, I was wondering if there was anything I could do for you?" She responded as she slowed her walk to a small gait so she wouldn't outpace her leader.

"Hmmm...don't suppose you'd be up to ordering a literal ton of cookies?" The scythe-wielder asked with only a moment's hesitation.

"I'll see what I can do…" The high-heel clad girl said with only semi-seriousness, rolling her eyes at her friend's antics.

"Wait, really?! That's...very nice of you, Weiss. Thanks so much." Ruby said with a bit of caution in her voice as she stopped and looked at her pale friend. She stood in place, seeming to want to squirm as she rubbed her arm in obvious discomfort until equally flustered arms wrapped around her quickly, constricting for a moment before letting go and slightly pushing off her.

"Th-think nothing of it, Ruby. I, um...appreciate you. As my leader, my, er...close friend, I often find you less insufferable than the rest." Weiss stuttered out, holding her hands behind her back out of an old childhood habit she'd taken to copy when she was younger…

"Not that I don't like, all this," the redhead says while she swings her arms to signify she meant everything, "but what's this all about Weiss?"

"Well...to be frank," Weiss smiles even as she scoffs at Ruby, who merely rolled her eyes as if to say 'like always', "I...I'm worried about you. I know you think yourself an adult, milk and all that, but I'm genuinely worried for you, as a friend. Today, we went through a lot, and I know a lot of things must surely be plaguing your mind. What I'm building up to, if I had to sum it all up, is that you don't make the same mistakes I've made and think that asking for help on what to make of everything you're thinking doesn't make you any weaker, and no one would belittle you for it. You taught me that, everyone did, really."

"Wow, Weiss, that's...really caring of you. I don't know what to say. Thank you? That doesn't really feel like it works, huh? It doesn't matter, this was totally cool of you and I hope you know that I really appreciate you, too." The cape-donned girl said with sincere a cheer in her voice, the Ruby-happiness that had been absent in her tone returning slightly.

"Very well, then, I'm glad we could get all of that sorted out. I know I'm not the first person you'd go to for issues, know that I'm here for you." Weiss said, ruffling her combat skirt to rid of it wrinkles, a force of habit she never considered breaking.

With one last, gentle smile, she opened the door and held it for Ruby, giving her a small curtsy that Ruby returned clumsily, walking in after her leader.

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"Hey there, you two! You guys sure took your sweet time. Something the matter?" Yang asked, already dressed in her pyjamas, Blake just finishing the process of throwing on her yukata.

"Just some girl talk, nothing that'd you'd understand." Weiss responded in a teasing voice, sticking her tongue out at Yang before Ruby could answer. She looked over at the Weiss, shooting her a questioning glance only to be met with a wink. She shrugged it off and decided to go with it.

"Yeah, that's about it, big sis. Sorry to say, I've finally found a good role model to latch on to. You have my deepest condolences, Blake, you were a close second." Ruby remarked casually, starting the tedious process of removing her corset.

"I'll take my loss with dignity." Blake responded, her amber eyes bright as they seemed to glow with playful mischief.

"Hey, how am I not a good role model? Sure, I may have fed you a tad bit too many cookie-dinners, but I'd like to think you came out alright…" Yang trailed off as she sat down on the edge of her bed, throwing her hands up in the universal gesture of 'Why?'

"Who knows, the world may never know." Ruby said nonchalantly as she picked up an adorable Zwei, hugging the little fur ball closely. Smiling to herself, Ruby let the corgi go, rolling her eyes as she lied down, hearing Blake hiss as little furry footsteps could be heard trodding off in her direction. Closing her eyes, she decided that getting her pyjamas on was too much of a hassle and she wasn't in her school outfit anyways. She missed the questioning looks Blake and Yang shot at Weiss, who merely pointed a finger at Ruby.

"Hey, Rubes?" The busty blonde asked aloud, trying to get her sister's attention.

"Yeah?" The scythe-wielder yawned out in a fashion most wouldn't hesitate to call cute.

"Is...everything alright?" Blake asked, her tone low.

"Yeah, everything's great. I don't see why everyone's asking that. I mean, everything worked out, right? The bad guys lost, the good guys won, and we saved a lot of lives today. Everything should be great…" Ruby trailed off, her face contorting subconsciously, and everyone in the room noticed, though none of them decided to speak up and risk stopping their leader's train of thought. "Except...it isn't. Or, maybe it is, and it's just not… good enough for me? I know we did a lot of good today, the whole world and their mother were thanking us for our valor and all that stuff, but… I ended up biting my tongue. I… tried not to think of it at the time, but… I know you all saw it. We didn't save _everyone._ Those White Fang in the tunnels… all those tarps the Atlesian Knights put down at the end of the day…"

Everyone could only listen on in shock, none of them were very surprised by the development, they had all expected the matter to come up sooner or later, but not so heavily and so early on. It was Blake who caught the looks she was receiving from Weiss and Yang, and she realized it they were looks of pleading, mingled with defeat. They both wanted to help Ruby, obviously, but neither could really claim to have coped with death before. Not on a wide scale like that day. But Blake had, and not once either. Death was also a constant threat that loomed over your head when you worked with the White Fang, and the bow wearing girl had quickly learned to make peace with the dreaded reality that was always possible.

"Yang, I think we all deserve a reward for today's efforts, and what better reward than cookies? Come on, your man hands are far better suited to remedial labor like lugging a literal ton of cookies." Weiss called out to Yang, already moving to the door and only raising a skeptical eyebrow when her curvy teammate immediately followed, pyjamas and all. She tried not to roll her eyes, she really did, and she only scoffed at the sympathetic look Blake had given her when Yang only wiggled her eyebrows as if daring the white haired girl to point out a problem, or two, to be specific.

Blake climbed up the precariously arranged bunk-bed, sitting down at the edge equal parts to give Ruby space and to distribute the weight equally so as to not tempt the Bunk-Bed Gods, whose favor was probably the only reason Weiss hadn't been squished to death tragically.

"So...death, huh?" Blake let out with a dramatic sigh.

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Ruby finally cracked open an eye, looking at the flustered Blake who was probably kicking herself over and over again for the subtle conversation starter. Letting out a quick complaint about needing sleep under her breath, the redhead started to rise until she sat cross legged in the middle of the bed.

"It's not the first time I've met it, you know? I'm not _that_ sheltered." Rose explains with what she hopes is a comedic eye roll. Her nerve breaks down a bit though when she's met with Blake's blank stare and a moment of silence.

"I knew it wasn't Ruby. One doesn't live in this world and not see some stage of it somewhere. And I know you've...had your own personal experience with it, close to home."

This time it was her turn to receive a look and a room full of silence, although Ruby's was somber.

"I...have... My mother, Summer Rose, she...died in the field. We assume… Like I said, I always knew death was a possibility. That… it never… haunted me, I guess would be the term. Sure, I'd never _want_ to die, I wouldn't just lie over and let it happen, but I always worried more about others. Don't think I could so easily put the lives of others easily over mine, it's just… I learned that death often hurts the ones around you more than it does you."

Blake was taken aback, even though she wasn't very surprised. She knew the kind of person Ruby Rose was, the things she'd do for a friend, and with that mantra the Arc boy had gotten into her head, something about strangers already your friends or such, Ruby had taken to holding her heart out on her sleeve.

"I understand. That's...very noble of you Ruby. Honestly, I can't say I am as fearless or as honorable as you. For friends, family, maybe I'd do something like that, but for someone I don't know… I won't argue with you about it. It's one of several wonderful things that makes you, you. But a word of advice, if you'll hear it. Don't make your passing anymore of a tragedy than it already will be, Ruby. Live your life, I'd say to the fullest, but just enjoying it in your own way would be enough. You don't have to hit up nightclubs and live recklessly with no cares in the world, achieve mastery over everything you try, or devote your life to a monumental goal, just make the little things count and make sure you have the least regrets in the end. It's something I learned quickly in the White Fang, and it's one of the few things I can look back on and never regret."

"I've… lived my life. I've drunk many a mug of milk in my days…" Ruby whimpered, biting her lip as Blake struck at the heart of her fears, always seeming to root out the problem right away.

"I know you've got plenty of things in life you appreciate, Ruby, you're not the kind of person to take things for granted, but can you honestly say you've nothing to regret if you never made it out of this dorm room?" Amber eyes seemed to pierce silver ones as Blake moved to stand in front of the shorter girl's gaze.

"..." Ruby licked her lips, her fingers drumming against her back, reminding her Crescent Rose was at her locker. Her eyes flicker to Blake's side, where pale fingers drum against the black metal that is Gambol Shroud. When she returns to Blake's unwavering gaze, she's aware of the small tugging on the older girl's lips as her eyes dart to the area where Crescent Rose ought to be. She'd been seen!

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

"...I guess I'd hate to go before I get that first kiss." Ruby finally relented, rolling her eyes at the ninja of her team's antics. She cried out in exasperation and finally grew a spine once she saw the almost comedic act of Blake's eyes widening to saucepan proportions, and the giggles she tried to cough away. Letting out a harsh war cry, she violently threw a karate chop at her fellow teammate, already planning the trip to the spa that she'd be forced to take her sister to once news of her murder had been delivered. Of course, Ruby was surprised when she felt her palm make solid contact, the limp form of Blake rolling off the bed, and hitting the floor promptly. Letting out a shriek at the accidental murder, the scythe-wielder could only glare at Blake, who was letting out a deep, guttural laugh from her bunk.

"So, your _first_ kiss, huh?" The Faunus said casually, though the teasing undertone didn't go unnoticed.

"Yes, I still haven't had my first kiss…" Ruby admitted, hanging her head in shame.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Ruby. Honestly, it's a bit cute. Like you're saving it for the right person. Do you have any clue about who that might be?"

"Hmmm…." The redhead hummed aloud, digging her toe into the bed as she pretended to think upon the matter, when the answer had come almost _instantly_ to mind.

The dorm room swung open loudly as Ruby faced the direction. Weiss stood in the doorway, a single box of chocolate chip cookies in her hand with Yang holding a stack of boxes, no doubt filled with the sugary treats, but the leader of Team RWBY paid them no mind, for she was gazing over their shoulders to see past them.

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 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

Jaune opened his eyes gently, letting out a deeply satisfied sigh as the rays of early morning adorned the dorm room in the most appealing of lights. With a mighty yawn, he gingerly moves aside his blankets and raises himself to sit on the edge of his bed.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

"Just a moment!" The built blonde bellowed. Jumping up onto his feet, he flashed his best bro a dazzling smile full of pearly white teeth that could've blinded the sun. He walked to the restroom with a swagger, emerging a moment later with a cup of water in hand and toothbrush already scrubbing away in the other. He opened the door with confidence, pleasantly surprised by who he saw on the other side.

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 _Knock. Knock._

…

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

…

 _Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock._

A blurry, magenta eye shot open, glaring. While all his frustration and hatred was currently festering at the waking world, it was slowly becoming focused on the incessant knocking. Who in their Oum-damned minds would come over at… 6:00 a.m!?

Ren had just begun to finger the trigger on one of Stormflower when he heard his fearless leader awakening. A guttural grumble, that came out more like a whimper that would have an entire forest of predators on the lookout for a downed bunny, came from the other side of the small dorm.

 **Knock. Knock. Knock.**

Barely finding the strength inside of himself, Ren managed to turn his head to face Jaune. He watched on in irritated silence as the sheets that were already half hanging off the bed frame were spasmodically thrown onto the dirty, dirty carpet completely. Had he the energy, the stoic would've raised an eyebrow at his leader who had proceeded to roll out of bed and face plant onto the dirty floor/sheets before throwing himself up onto a knee, shakily rising to his feet. The walking zombie seemed to look in Ren's direction, and the sleepy boy's grip on the weapon he kept underneath his pillow tightened as the _Thing's_ face muscles seemed to contort randomly, it's tongue lolling out of the corner of its mouth. It shuffled towards the bathroom, slamming the door open a full minute later. It held a glass of water, and seemed to be attempting to put the brush in its mouth, though it took three tries in which it smeared white paste all along its cheek. Finally reaching the door, the handle was fumbled with for a few, grueling seconds before the door was finally opened.

"...Rugggggee?"

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Ruby cursed to herself beneath her breath, trying to get out the creases on her combat skirt.

"Dang, dang, dang it all! Oh, fudge, I can't even...gah!"

She danced on the tips of her feet in discomfort, taking a glance at her dorm with needful eyes, quickly glaring at Blake who stuck her tongue out before quickly shutting the door, with an audible click signifying she wouldn't be getting back in there any time soon.

"I'm _so_ spraying her with water next chance I get...I'll freaking buy a bottle, I don't care.."

The door opened slowly, an audible creak coming from what should be a rather new door…

"...Rugggggee?" A bleary-eyed Jaune moaned aloud. He tried to blink away the crust that had amassed over his sleep, scratching his chest afterwards, and that's when Ruby realized he was shirtless. _And that training did wonders for the physique._

"I-I-I, uh… need a minute? K' thanks so much, remember just a minute!" The redhead squeaked out as she quickly pushed Jaune back a bit, closing his door. She never saw him shrug on the other side. After the minute was up, Ruby worked up the nerve to knock once more. Her fears got the best of her when Jaune didn't open the door right away, and was ready to dash into her door and break it down if she had to, when the click of the door caught her attention. The scraggly blonde walked out into the hall, a bit more presentable now. He had on his hoodie, much to Ruby's relief and chagrin, and his face was all cleaned up though his hair was still the equivalent of a disheveled mess.

"Heeyyy, Ruby, good look amazing. " Jaune said quietly, yawning at the beginning and lifting a hand to rub at his eyes. He smiled at the younger girl, the terrible affliction of not being a morning person ridding him of any inhibitions. Jaune's smile faltered though when the cute girl's face seemed to redden in anger as she glared at him.

"You're not making this any easier..." She hissed out before sighing in an obvious attempt to calm herself. Jaune only shook his head, assuming this was just another strange thing about girls Ren would have to teach him about later.

"Sorry?"

"Jaune, _wouldyougooutonadatewithme_?" Ruby quickly shot out.

"Eh, what was that? I didn't catch any of it." The clueless blonde chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Would you...like to go out on a date with me?" She managed to finally say, with only a bit of hesitation. She had to squeeze her eyes shut as she balled up her fists as her side though, and didn't see Jaune's jaw drop in amazement. All she heard was silence, and she'd would've like to claim pinpricks of tears didn't start to form in the corners of her eyes when the silence dragged on. She was already turning her feet, ready to sprint down the hallway and away from her rejection, when she felt his shoulder on her arm.

"That's...that would be...yes. Great. I-I'd love to. Uh, uhhhh. When, though? I'd have to get ready, you know what why don't you come in?" Jaune bumbled out, a bit flustered.

"I was actually thinking we could head to this little cafe a… _friend_ recommended, where we could figure out the day. It's, eh, today. The date, that is. If, you know, you can make it." Ruby squeaked out, shrinking into her cloak at the boldness of her own words.

"That works." Jaune said, eyes locked with her, both of them a bit caught up in how quickly everything happened.

"Well, I'll be here, waiting for you to be ready." The shorter girl mumbled with a lopsided smile, subtly prompting the boy to snap back to the task at hand.

"Oh, yeah! You're, uh, not wearing your usual outfit?" Jaune asked, noting the grey long sleeve with belted cuffs at the ends. Oblivious to the rush of color to her cheeks, he leaned against his doorway and held a hand, his toothbrush long forgotten, to his chin, openly observing Ruby. He noticed the pinafore, its red stitched lines sort of resembling her corset, and scarf-addition of the cloak. What stood out the most to him though were the cross buckles she had, as well as the cross she had on her belt, beside the silver rose emblem. He was about to comment on them when he looked back up to see the embarrassed look Ruby was shooting at him, and he laughed nervously, only now realizing he was kind of checking her out, or at least that's what it seemed like. He gave her a thumbs up, and wordlessly stepped back into his room, closing the door as he began to prepare.

She heard a bit of fumbling, and what sounded like an Ursa's roar that was promptly followed by muffled sounds of distress and apologies. After a short two minutes, Jaune reemerged. He was clad in a blue trench coat, armor strapped on over it, with Crocea Mors tucked neatly behind his coat, no shield in view.

"It's not what I'd usually wear, obviously… honestly I feel like… I'd wear this if I were a professor's aid or something."

"It, uh..suits you." The flustered redhead commented aloud, a bit more embarrassed about the whole ordeal than she had imagined she'd be. In her head, she was going to be suave, cool, collected, and maybe even a teeny tiny bit flirty. That whole train of thinking was derailed however when he shot her a grin, the appropriate amount of teeth showing and all that.

"Th-thanks, you look great yourself. So, uh, shall we get going?"

"Yeah, yeah. We'll catch the first bullhead out to Vale in about a half hour. We should arrive right on time if we walk slowly."

"Ruby Rose, walk slowly? I don't think I can even imagine it." Jaune quipped dramatically, putting a hand on his heart as he shook his head as to rid the notion from his head. Smiling at the giggle it coerced from her, his walk gained a little pep, though he had plenty pep already considering the first thing that had happened that day was a date. Sure, Ruby was a bit younger than him, and not the… kind of beauty some people would've prefered, but she was still beautiful in her own way and a great friend.

Of course, Jaune couldn't think about certain aspects of a woman for long before one of his neurons in his head gaped the connection between aspects and Yang Xiao-Long, and he gasped out loud, his step faltering. His hand, which had been swinging, stopped dead in its tracks, and soft fingers briefly brushed them before quickly pulling away. Jaune looked at Ruby, a bit of the blood rushing back to color his not-so pale cheeks, but his fears died down at the furious blush the younger sister of the girl in his immediate thoughts was sporting.

"Something the matter, Jaune?" She asked, looking away, not trusting herself to be able to maintain eye contact if she caught his gaze.

"Uh...no. Nothing at all, I guess I'm still getting over the shock of getting to go on a date with such a pretty gal, is all." Jaune replied almost without thought, actually surprising himself with his own words. He was a bit downcast when all Ruby replied with was an ' _oh_.' That was quickly replaced with a small smile, however, when he felt those same soft fingers brush his again, Ruby notably walking a bit closer to him.

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Jaune paled, staring in silent terror at the monstrosity. Ruby stood by his side, grabbing him by the arm and nodding at him with determination, her eyes assuring him of the confidence she had in him. With a sigh, the Arc bit his cheek as he allowed the shorter girl to drag him towards what he knew could possibly be his death.

Being the first scheduled trip of the day, ready at the Monty-forsaken hour of 6:45 a.m., the pilot hadn't been expecting to take off for at least another two hours, and was quite content to doze away at his chair with a nice warm glass of milk. He could only curse to himself at the pair of children who were expectantly waiting to be hauled off to Vale like it was _his_ job to fly them around.

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"Relax, Jaune, the pilots here at Beacon are top notch. If I hadn't seen one of them in person, I would've assumed they were robots. They're total professionals, and we're probably their number one priority." Ruby assured her green friend, who could only nod along to her words while he stared at the floor, moving to their seats at a snail's pace.

"We haven't even started moving…" The girl mumbled aloud, giggling at the petrified face Jaune made when her words finally registered.

"I-I-I… I already made a doofus of myself, huh?" Jaune sputtered out, his voice full of defeat, even as Ruby sat him down beside her.

"I'd personally use the word dork, but that's up to you." The redhead said as she playfully punched his shoulder. The Arc gave a small smile at that, but then his face became neutral as it became visibly obvious he was concentrating. The ship lurched suddenly, jostling the two, and one of them let out a long groan as the actual motion began.

Jaune's green face contrasted Ruby's red one as she slowly, slowly, raised her arm to wrap it around Jaune's head, tentatively pushing him down until he was on her shoulder. It was a major step up from brushing his fingers and her heart couldn't be any faster if a Deathstalker suddenly appeared, but Ruby found solace in the fact Jaune hadn't objected. Neither saw the smile that was etched on both their faces, but they didn't have to.

It would be a while before they arrived at Vale, and the scythe-wielder did the one thing most normal problem did when they were on a long trip and not in danger of puking should they dare commit the act, appreciate the view. Beacon still looked breathtaking to Ruby, from the horizon or amongst its halls, not that she'd ever admit that to any of her teammates, who she felt would judge her for managing to geek out over something she'd been seeing for nearly half a year. While the girl began to delve deeper and deeper into her thoughts, she lost her sense of surrounding; lost in her own little world made up of her worries, aspirations, deep philosophies about cookies and life, and the like, her fingers didn't remain idle.

With a mind of their own, the small digits began to play with the soft, golden locks that were so tantalizingly nearby. And while the small girl didn't realize what she was doing, the blonde beside her certainly did. Had she been paying attention, his initial reaction consisting of a loud grunt, hitched breathing, and a slight stirring, wouldn't have gone unnoticed. 

"R-Ruby?"

"Hm?" She hummed to him, not quite snapping right back to reality, her fingers still curling and tugging on his hair.

"What, uh… what're ya doing?" Jaune asked, his body comically still as his face practically conveyed all the expressions his body language would've.

"Wellllll, I'm on a date with this huge dork." Ruby drawled out, curling a hair for emphasis, and then stiffening up as she realized what she'd been doing for quite a while. Mentally reassuring herself with a quick mantra of _'This is my chance!'_ the girl decided to hell with it, full throttle.

"Huge? Pfft, I'm not that big of a dork… you're the geek around Beacon…" Jaune quipped, not commenting on just how nice he realized Ruby's hands felt as they all but massaged his scalp.

"Yeah, sure. At least you're a handsome dork. I wouldn't quite say dreamy, but maybe starting to approach hunk levels…" She trailed off as if in deep thought on the matter.

"Oh, w-wow. Thanks! You're pretty good looking yourself, but I'm sure you knew that." Jaune said in a bit of a rush, most of the paleness in his face having been replaced with a light tint of pink that conveyed just how often Jaune received compliments.

"Eh...yeah. Well, not really… Jaune, can you be serious with me for a moment. I...need you to be upfront with me." The short redhead said, the mood quickly turning serious to mirror her inflection.

"Of course, anything for you. What can I do?" The Arc asked, lifting himself off Ruby for the first time since their trip had started, all signs of sickness gone.

"I, uh… well, it's kind of hard to ask. I don't want to come off sounding vain, but… it's just-" She stammered until she was interrupted by the scraggly young man, who moved closer to her until their sides were pressed against one another. He pushed on her with his shoulder, applying a light but firm pressure until the girl smirked at him and finally gave, being jostled a bit by his strange antics. Shaking her head with a smile, she turned her head to see he had done the same, their faces mere inches from one another, his blue eyes demanding her attention.

"I know you, ok? So don't worry about coming off as anything, because I'd like to think I know the very first friend I made at Beacon." He remarked, never breaking eye contact, even as he moved a hand to swipe away a crimson lock of hair. A heart-warming smile slowly crept onto her face and suddenly it was Ruby who couldn't stand to look at Jaune who wasn't making an effort to hide the effect Ruby's reaction was having on him.

"Well, every time someone talked about me...it's always the same things. I know it's the thought that counts but constantly being called cute, dorky, funny, it...wears me down. Of course I smile, they're compliments, after all...it's just that no one ever says pretty. Or beautiful, hot, even...sexy. They stick with the words Weiss uses to describe Zwei...I don't even know if I'm allowed to complain about something like this!" Ruby finished, her voice having risen in volume as her passion on the matter became more and more obvious.

"I don't know what to tell you, Rubes. I wish I could disagree, tell you all the things you want to hear, but I can't. When I think of Ruby Rose, I think of a cute, energetic, innocent, light-hearted, and fun person. One thing, though, you _are_ beautiful! Your hair, it's exotic and I doubt anyone who's ever seen it would soon forget it. Your silver eyes, I could stare at them all day. And your personality, I know it's a bit hard to start talking to people, but there's a reason you make friends with everyone who's forced to get to know you. I'm sure you could have your moments...you looked beautiful in that dress you wore to the dance. Some might even say, well, um... hot." Jaune explained, tugging a bit at his armor in embarrassment, not quite believing he'd seriously just said that.

"Watch it, you…" A quick punch to his shoulder. "You almost sounded like somebody who's actually sauve...Thanks, Jaune, you have a way with words that just, eh! You make me happy, vomit boy."

"Your welcome, Crater Face." The Arc chuckled, resisting the urge to rub his shoulder that really stung, lest he ruin the cool streak he'd finally gotten.

The pair settled into a comfortable silence after that, Ruby having reluctantly taken up Jaune's role. Resting her head against his shoulder, she let out a content sigh when he pushed her off only to adjust so she'd be more comfortable. She was bored within a matter of minutes, and it wasn't long before her mind started to drift again, and one thought kept bouncing around in her head. What had gotten Jaune over his motion sickness, and a smirk tugged at her lips as she contemplated the answer.

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Jaune raised an eyebrow at the redhead across the table that was clearly growing more and more restless. Catching yet another one of the "sneaky" glances she'd been shooting at him for the last twenty minutes, he finally put down his own menu that'd been obscuring his grin from her sight. He watched on in amusement as terror flashed across her face at realizing she'd been caught, confusion when he merely raised an eyebrow and lowered his menu, deep concentration as she squinted her eyes in focus as she scanned his face, and cute, cute grumpiness as she pouts at his smirk.

"Ruby, how did you come to know about this place again?" The blonde asked, managing to keep most of his giddiness out of his voice.

"You see...the thing is...a friend kinda suggested it. I really don't come to fancy-schmancy restaurants very often...Jaune what is this stuff?"

"I think biscuits and crumpets are the same thing. Imagine fluffy bread. As for the rest, I have no clue." He admitted, scratching his cheek in reluctant admittance, laughing at the accusatory glare his date was shooting him.

"And you had the gall to laugh at me...Well, whatever. We came here to plan out the rest of our day. So, uh...what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, Ruby, you asked me out on this date, remember? What would you like to do?" Jaune asked, finally managing to say the word date without a stutter or a blush sprouting on his face.

"Ugh, we're on this date _together,_ Jaune. _We_ decide where _we're_ going. And besides...I don't have a lot of experience with dates." Ruby mumbled the last part to herself.

"Fine, fine. Well, we could always go watch a movie. I haven't kept up with anything because of training and Beacon in general, but I'm sure we could find something good."

"A movie? That sounds great. People go to the movies on dates all the time. Then, maybe we could follow it up with dinner? Oh, but it'd barely be the afternoon, huh? Lunch can still work though, right? Ah, I don't know, I'm sure it'll all be great, right?" Ruby asked in a bit of a blur, her words jumbling together as she fired off question after question, all the while she rubbed her arm nervously.

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Jaune wasn't certain when things began to go wrong. Things had been going so great at the beginning of the day. They'd decided to peruse Vale until they ran into a theatre, having found one after a short walk, which they had spent talking. He _thought_ he had been rather suave, and Ruby seemed to be humoring him. Maybe it had been when it came time to pay for the movie and Jaune realized he'd mistakenly brought 10 lien cards instead of the 100's.

Ruby had told him it wasn't a big deal when she picked up the last twenty lien for the tickets even after Jaune had gotten rid of all his snacks, insisting he'd pay for Ruby's. Even then, she didn't seem all that into the movie, and just about jumped out of her seat the second the credits started rolling. Maybe he'd offended her when he tried to be chivalrous, pulling out her chairs, holding doors open for her, the works. Jaune couldn't help but let his thoughts on the matter drift.

 _Maybe...maybe she's realizing she just wants to be friends with me._

As the day dragged on, Ruby seemed to get more and more sullen. She didn't want to show it, and she always put on a brave face when she caught Jaune's eye, but he saw it. The subtle dipping of her head, the look in her eyes that clearly conveyed she was somewhere else, the small twitches her lip suffered.

Still, she seemed to try. They spent the rest of the day the same way. No matter what he tried, taking her to restaurants, showing her the sights, trying his best to cheer her up just didn't seem to do anything. His resolve to stay strong and work to fix it was quickly fading, a result of having to see his fruitless labor seem to get sadder and sadder in front of his very eyes.

It was on a walk along a pier during the evening that Ruby finally seemed willing to open up. They had taken a seat on a bench just a bit aways from the edge of the pier, overlooking a beautiful view of the sea stretching endlessly into the horizon, the sun just beginning to color streaks through the sky.

Jaune took the sight before him with a deep breathe, giving the beautiful, young woman besides him an open, forlorn look. He closed his eyes as he prepared himself for his last attempt at salvaging the night, muttering a quick prayer to Monty, before hesitantly placing his hand on Ruby's and interlocking their fingers. He turned to look at her, to gauge her reaction. But if she had one, she kept it to herself as she didn't even seem to notice. His fingers slipped free of hers as he frowned, but his eyes remained on Ruby. He followed her gaze, realizing she'd never been looking at the ocean or the sky at all, but to a small family at the end of the pier. A family of three, a Father and Mother, with one little girl to boot. The child looked no older than six, and the cheery smile on her face spoke volumes of how the girl was in the state of naivety and carelessness that only the ignorant were blessed with. Her parents though, and the small smiles etched on their faces certainly didn't fail to seem like they belonged in the small world the girl no doubt lived in.

The scene was heart-warming, and Jaune nearly forgot about his woes watching, realizing how it was understandable Ruby might've not noticed him, and a small spark seemed to ignite in his chest at the thought. It quickly died out, however, when he turned to see the look of _sadness,_ borderline _despair_ , that was threatening the young woman with tears.

"R-Ruby? What's wrong?" The blonde hesitantly called out, dismayed at what could've happened to make her react the way she did.

"J-Jaune...I just...I-I have to make a call really quickly." The redhead managed to say, looking like a sob was trying to wrench its way from her throat. He didn't even finish his nod before the small Huntress-in-training ran off some ways before pulling out her scroll, fiddling with the small device for a bit before holding it up to her ear. She talked for a bit, and while she may have moved quite a distance away, he still caught snippets of what she was saying, despite his best intentions to turn the other way and not be a snoop.

 _Patch...it's late...cliffs...Mother._

The words bounced around in Jaune's head, his brain trying to form a picture with the few pieces he'd garnered. The process was quickly forgotten when the Arc felt his own scroll vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out, he was surprised to see it was Yang calling him. While he was sort of expecting a call from his date's older sister at some point in the day, he had stopped doing so when half the day had gone by without so much as a word from her. He managed to answer by the third ring.

"Hi there, Yang, what's up?"

"Jaune, I, uh...I need to ask you a favor."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. The blonde had been preparing himself for praise, encouragements, and promises that subtly imply emasculation should he touch or hurt Ruby.

"Yeah, anything, anything at all. What do you need?"

"Well...it's about Ruby...she's...not in a good place right now, Jaune."

"W-wow. I didn't think things were going so bad…" The Arc muttered, a bit put off by how blatant Yang was being and the fact that Ruby had called her older sister just to tell him the date hadn't been going well.

"Oh, I just realized how bad that sounded. It's not you, I swear! It's just...well, you were there. The whole train thing, it threw her off, shot her nerves to hell. I don't know about you guys, but most of us just kind shook it off, stopped thinking about it when the bruises disappeared. Ruby...she...she's, well, still a little kid in certain ways. Right now, she's thinking about a lot of things, and she always goes to one place when she has to clear her head. I've always known when Ruby would be in one of these kind of moods, and always took her there, but, seeing as how she's on a date...yeah. I'd like it if she waited until tomorrow, and so would our Dad, but she's not having any of it. Jaune, I need you to go with her. I know she's a big girl, can take care of herself, but I need someone to be there with her. I'd prefer it be me, obviously, but that's just not an option right now."

"I'll do it, I'll do it. Don't worry, Yang, I'm glad I can be here to do this for you. But, uh, where are we going exactly?"

" _...It's her mother's grave."_

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"Jaune...I _really_ need to get going. The last bullhead to Patch leaves soon." The redhead whined, rubbing her arms as she squirmed in place, looking between the blonde and the direction the station was in.

"I know, Ruby, but this'll just be a minute." The blonde said, giving her a quick glance to make sure she wouldn't just dash off without him. Once he was certain she wouldn't, he put his scroll up to his ear and muttered praise and words full of gratitude for about a full minute before hanging up. Pocketing his scroll, he turned and gave the young woman a smile, and began drumming his hands on his pants.

"I don't have time for this!" Ruby wailed, turning on her heel, ready, for all intents and purposes, to dash off without Jaune. Well, she was, until a firm grip on her arm spun her around, where it then moved to her shoulder, with a second hand appearing not long after to assure the other shoulder wouldn't get lonely.

"Hey, don't forget, I'm here for **you."** The Knight explained, emphasizing the final word to get his point across. It must've been lost at some point during communication, though. Ruby shrugged his hand off her body, glaring venomously at him.

"I didn't ask for you to come along. I can take care of myself, and I'd hate to be a **burden**." With that, she turned her back on him, missing the look of confusion and shock on his face, and disappeared in a flurry of red rose petals.

"I...oh... Oh, _Ruby._ " Jaune said aloud to no one, realization hitting him like a brick. Yang's words echoed through his head, and it dawned on him just how hurt his date _really_ was. He nervously drummed his fingers along his pants, again, wondering if he could afford to wait a few more precious minutes. His answer came in the sound of a loud screech and an even louder, ground shaking, boom.

With a thankful nod to Ren, that the blonde knew the jade-clad boy would never see, Jaune ran forward and opened up his locker as quickly as he could. He put the neat stacks of 100 lien cards in his pocket, sheathed Crocea Mors on his hip, and nearly finished emptying the contents of his locker before hesitating as he reached for the final item left.

Jaune slowly shook his head before he grabbed _it_ and turned on his heel, immediately taking off. He knew exactly where he was going, he just hoped he would make it in time.

" _I'm here for you, Ruby."_

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Prick: So guys, there is part 1! What did you think? Somehow, I found the lack of fluff disturbing, considering what we initially had planned for this story. But still, the real bonding shall occur in the future. Granted, we'll have most of that written when this chapter is released, so the only thing stopping the next one from coming out as soon as possible is a terminal lack of reviews. Think about it…

Fate: What? That's it? We were promised so much more.

Prick: Oh, shut your whore mouth, you're aware of what I'm planning. Don't feign ignorance in attempt to rally the readers. Follow, Favorite, Review people! Shoutouts are awesome!


	2. Chapter 2

**The First Date**

 **Part II**

Ruby squirmed in her seat, the pit of despair in her stomach growing exponentially with every passing second. The Airship's ticket inspector was quick, efficient, and - in Ruby's eyes - ruthless. While in reality, the man had a very charismatic smile and was even cracking the occasional joke. Ruby knew that it would soon be replaced with a stern frown when he finally arrived at her seat and asked for her ticket.

The thought of running off had crossed her mind, but the ingenious architects of the civilian Airship had made it so there was only one entrance, and, therefore, only one exit to the seating area of the Airship. The rest of the ship was off limits to anyone who wasn't an employee, and, although Ruby didn't know it, being caught there would have the Air Marshall ensuring the next time she touched the ground would be in cuffs.

Sweaty fingers drummed against her seat as the man collected the tickets of the nice family who'd been sitting across from her. The children she'd been trading grotesque faces with sent a smile her way, which morphed to confused expressions when she failed to do the same. Her heart spiked to levels it never reached without her Semblance being used, as the blue-uniformed man turned to face her.

"Hello there, Miss. It's a bit late to be out on your own, don't you think?" The man asked her, and Ruby tried to respond, learning she'd lost her voice at some point. Ruby gripped her seat tightly, upset that this was as far as she was going to get. Unable to meet the man's gaze, she tried her best to focus on his words and pretend she wasn't talking to a person.

"That's not really the case." Ruby finally squeaked out, staring at his chest. She noted his name was Xavier, if the silver pin was anything to go off of.

"Oh, so your family is here with ya, then?" The now dubbed Xavier asked, questioning himself as he tried to recollect having seen anyone leave the room since he entered.

"That's also, not really the case." The redhaired teen admitted in a soft voice.

"Well, which is it, Ma'am? Can you show me your ticket or not?" Xavier narrowed his eyes, his mouth turning into a thin line, much like Ruby had suspected, though she didn't look up to see it.

"I… I… I… listen, Sir-" Ruby tried to plead as pinpricks of tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

Ruby would never know what Xavier would do since a hand fell upon his shoulder that very moment.

" _Babe_ ," he whined, "I asked you to wait a minute. You forgot I have our tickets, didn't you?" The blonde asked as he held up the small, stubs of paper.

"Thank you very much, _sir."_ Xavier said warily, eyes shooting to Jaune, who was panting heavily, his chest pumping, while Ruby herself looked to be on the verge of collapsing.

Jaune flashed him a smile full of teeth as he sat down beside the red haired teen.

"J-Jaune!?" Ruby squeaked out, very surprised to see the blonde, though not ungrateful.

"I told you I'm here for _you,_ didn't I?" The Arc managed to huff out, sinking into his seat and sending an awkward wave to the family across the aisle.

"Yeah… yeah, you did, didn't you?" Ruby mumbled, punching Jaune in the shoulder absent-mindedly.

"Oowww, what was that for?" Her _manly_ date whined, holding his arm.

"That was for taking your sweet time getting here."

Jaune was still rubbing his arm, his genuinely true rebuttal dying in his throat as he turned to tell Ruby off in a playfully upset manner, when he saw her smiling at him before enveloping him in a hug. His eyes widened in shock, and he stiffened at the contact before he felt the young, redhead squeeze his sides.

"But, since you _did_ get here, in the end, I'll let the _babe_ thing go." Ruby murmured softly, her breath just reaching his ear and tickling him in just the right way that sent shivers coursing through his body.

"I, uh… yeah, thanks a lot, for that." The blonde remarked slowly, seeing the very young boy from the family across the aisle visibly disgusted, as well as the even younger, little girl besides him who was clasping her hands in excitement. His brain didn't have any time to digest the information, however, as it became engrossed in burning the memory of what was currently happening into its depths.

Ruby leaned back a bit, her arms still wrapped around Jaune's back, and smiled at him, before leaning forwards and pecking him on the cheek. Pulling away from the chaste kiss, the scythe-wielder let go of him, only to nuzzle into his chest, intent on being as relaxed as possible for the duration of the ride.

"I might _not_ even mention it to Yang, once we get back to Beacon." She lazily said, adjusting herself in the hopes of finding _the spot_ that would let her comfortably prop her legs up on the seat beside her.

Jaune himself just draped an arm around Ruby, eyes still closed as he basked in the moment that had completely blind-sided him. The goofy grin on his face slowly began morphing into one of abject horror as the words _after_ the kiss finally registered.

Jaune's eyes fluttered open, contrasting sensations along with the drowsiness of having been asleep making for one very comfy awakening. The moment was not meant to last, however, as the rest of the world came into focus, in several, different ways. His back ached from having sat upright on the rigid seat for the last few hours, the arm he had wrapped around Ruby at some point had gone numb, and the quiet serenity composed of the white noise sounds the airship had been producing was shattered as the rest of the room's occupants began chatting animatedly.

The only thing that offered Jaune any comfort at the moment was the bundle of warmth that had made itself home on his chest. Smiling softly at the sight of Ruby peacefully slumbering away her worries, he reached over to move a loose strand of crimson hair. Flinching when the girl stirred, the Arc gave Ruby, who was mid-yawn, a reluctant smile.

"Hey there, sorry to wake you. I didn't mean to, since it still looks like we have a few minutes on hand." Jaune softly explained.

"That's too bad, I was just getting comfy, too." She quipped, wriggling a bit, but not moving from her spot.

" _Just?_ The only just here is that you _just_ woke up from what was probably your best nap ever as poor, little ol' me has his backside freezing while I sit in arguably the most uncomfortable piece of plastic this side of Remnant." The blonde rebuttled, a bit more efficiently than he had thought, seeing as how Ruby immediately shot up, sitting on her own seat.

"Is that true? Oh, poor Jaune! You're so right! I made you sit like that this entire time, didn't I? Here I am, all relaxed and happy on the trip I kinda forced you into, and you're the one who has to put up with all this stuff and I'm just lett-" The girls rant was cut off as Jaune pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, don't think anything of it. It was worth it, just being with you. Besides, what else was I going to do? I mean, if you really wanted to pay me back, you could forget about that little kiss when you tell Yang about this all."

"You're ruining the moment, dolt." Ruby informed him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, were we having one of those?" Jaune asked as he tucked a tuft of hair behind Ruby's ear.

"Yeah, but it's kinda walking the line between redeemable and dead." She responded.

"Do you think that crying baby a few aisles down is affecting it? Or maybe that little girl over there who just decided to show everyone what she had for dinner last night?" He asked, his monotone voice showing Ruby just how serious he was being.

"Aaaand, it's gone. Way to go, Vomit Boy. Ya goofed again."

"Good, it's been working fine so far, why fix it if it ain't broke?"

"And what makes you think that _it_ has been working?"

"You're still hugging me, aren't you?"

"Oh, whatever! We're still on our first date, remember that." Ruby cried, pushing herself off of him playfully.

"Yeah, I almost forgot." Jaune responded, moving to stand up, but immediately sat back down with a cry of pain, his hand shooting up to rub his back in an effort to alleviate some of the pain.

"You weren't kidding, your back really does hurt. I'm really sorry about this, Jaune. This is hardly how a date should've gone." The redhead said as she put a hand on the blonde's arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Wouldn't trade it for the world." He responded, smiling at Ruby as he grit his teeth and began to try and stretch the pain away.

"You don't mean that." The shorter of the two companions whispered, obviously flustered.

"Is it time to go yet? I'm pretty sure we've landed." Jaune asked as he looked around at everybody in the room, who were all still firmly planted in their seats.

"Yup, this is our stop. I'll just grab our luggage…" Ruby trailed off as she moved towards Jaune, their chests pushed up against one another, and Jaune was left to stare down with a flustered expression as she looped an arm around him and seemed to pat his rear. Flashing the blonde a smile, the redhead began to skip towards the exit, holding Crescent Rose up in its retracted form.

"Uh, no one else is getting off, Ruby." The above mentioned blonde informed his female companion whilst jogging to catch up to her, easily matching her stride once he arrived at her side.

"We're kinda in the middle of nowhere. Or the far end of Patch, same diff', really." The redhead casually explained and smiled at Xavier as they passed him, before waving goodbye. She was a bit put off when he failed to return the gesture; instead, choosing to stare at them until the Airship's walls broke their line of sight.

If the event was any sort of omen for their journey ahead, it flew right over our oblivious duo's heads.

"Wow, you weren't exaggerating." Jaune muttered to himself as they stepped out of the airship. He looked around to see they had landed in a clearing, surrounded by lush forest, the trees dying shades of green as opposed to the bold red he had seen in the Forever Fall.

"Patch itself is pretty small, at least, the town's kinda small and about a quarter of us live in little pockets in the woods. Not many people, really, but those of us who are here are pretty hardy. Growing up here, with almost everyone having at least one parent who was a Huntsman, it never felt dangerous. Patch actually sheltered me, believe it or not. Didn't even know I was being robbed at first the night I met Professor Goodwitch. I never even saw a crime up until then." Ruby explained as she patted Crescent Rose on her hip.

"Oh, yeah. I'm _sure_. I see the creepy, ominous, dark forest and just wanna pull out a blanket and take a nap under the stars." Jaune quipped as his eyes darted along the tree line, looking for the tell tale sign of the branch or twig that would snap before an entire legion of Grimm exploded from the forest.

"Oh, you just need to man up! We'll be getting some cups of milk after this fight, alright?" The redhead promised with a smile.

"Okay, why not? Milk's not that ba- wait a minute! A fight?! What do you mean?!"

"Well, when that airship takes off, a stray Grimm or two always shows up. That isn't a problem; not hightailing it to the town is, though." Ruby explained, now also scanning the tree line through Crescent Rose's scope as the airship behind them hummed loudly.

"Well then, why don't we take off? I've been working on cardio, we could even race." Jaune proposed, stretching his limbs as he began to prepare himself. The town wasn't in sight, so he expected it to be a bit of a trek.

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, it's always been kind of an unspoken duty to thin the Grimm's numbers a bit. I consider this picking up the slack for being gone at Beacon all semester." The redhead replied in a soft voice, but Jaune didn't get the chance to ponder on it very long since the sullen tone was contrasted by the loud _crack_ of Crescent Rose shot.

His head snapped to the left, eyes falling upon the disintegrating heap of what must've been a Grimm, probably a Beowolf from the size. With a small smile, the Arc unsheathed Crocea Mors, and opened his shield, it's familiar weight feeling slightly more at home on his arm than his hip. Moving into a stance that centered his gravity so Grimm would be significantly hard pressed to knock him over, Jaune moved his shield in front of himself and held Crocea Mors at the ready.

It was after a minute of increasingly frequent but still sporadic firing from Ruby that Jaune's arm began to feel the tell tale burn of early-stage fatigue. After the second minute, Jaune let his shield lower a bit, letting it hang at his side seeing as how no Grimm had yet to even make it past the small fence that surrounded the clearing. It wasn't until the airship left after another five minutes in which Jaune had sat down in boredom that the Grimm began to get alarmingly close.

 _Crack. Crack. Crack. Cick. Click. Click._

"Jaune." Ruby simply stated.

"Ruby?" The blonde asked in bewilderment.

"A magazine, please?" Ruby asked, thrusting her hand out towards her companion.

"What? Here? I keep all my copies of X-Ray and Vav in my dorm…"

The clueless boy squirmed underneath the redhead's intense gaze.

"I meant like a gun one! An ammunition clip! The boomstick's boom! Ammo! " Ruby cried out, pulling Crescent Rose out of the ground as the most common type of Beowolves hastily sprinted towards the duo.

"I don't have any more ammo! I gave you everything I had back in the airship!"

"You only brought me 10 magazines!?"

"I didn't bring any of them! Ren did! It's not my fault he didn't plan on us clearing out what seems like an entire small island of Grimm!"

"I think he was just being lazy…" She grumbled aloud as she leapt forward, meeting a Beowolf mid-lunge, although she was the only one to land in one piece.

"Hey, it's not so bad not being able to shoot things. I mean, look at me." Jaune said with one of his iconic smiles while lazily holding up Crocea Mors over his head as he promptly stepped into a Beowolf's guard, bringing his weapon down into the Beowolf's kneecap, before quickly ramming the sword through the side of the head of the beast.

"Yeah, yeah…"

"So, uh, Ruby? Couldn't help but notice that these Grimm aren't actually as tough as the Grimm in Vale," the young Arc paused for a second to shield bash a Beowolf directly in the snout before beheading it with the simplest flicks of his wrist, "they're just a lot of them."

"Mh, I guess you're right. Never really thought about that. Guess cause there's a lot less crime here in Patch? Or, practically none, really." Ruby pondered aloud, her tongue sticking out of her mouth to visibly show just how deeply she was concentrating on the matter, all the while bisecting Beowolves with ease, even managing to add a bit of flair to her moves as they got more intricate, almost rhythmic, like a deadly dance.

"Less negative emotions to...what? Feed off of? I know I'm not the best student, but I'm certain I've never heard anyone tell me what Grimm survive off of." Jaune confessed as he blunty shoved Crocea through a Beowolf's chest, using his shield to knock away the feeble, last-attempt of an attack that was a claw.

"I'm pretty sure that's because no one knows the answer. I mean, we know they're _attracted_ to bad feelings. And they do...eat people. But they don't need to, otherwise they would've all died out by now. And I know that they don't eat the animals who live here in the woods." The cookie-loving teen explained as she effortlessly removed a Beowolf's limbs before moving on to his friend.

"Hm. This always happens, ya know? I get all philosophical when I'm fighting Grimm. When I shower too… weird."

"Very," Ruby began to say as she slashed through a Beowolf, "Now. Let's. Get. Going. We're. Done. Here." Ruby managed to get out as several Beowolves swarmed her at once, their sheer numbers allowing them to bypass Jaune, who could only slay so many creatures so quickly. This didn't deter the Reaper, however, as her attacks became even more complicated, though this was out of necessity rather than flare as she began twirling Crescent Rose until the weapon was a red blur, at times even throwing the weapon before leaping forward at the spinning pinwheel of death and firmly gripping it once more only to continue the absolute slaughter.

Jaune could only stare on in wonderment, the rather large dissolving mass of smoke at his side dwarfed in comparison to the literal fog of darkness surrounding Ruby, who had launched down towards the final Beowolf, with the aid of gravity having to suffice, disappearing from sight alongside the dying howl of the creature of Grimm who last Jaune had seen had a couple feet of metal through its skull.

"Ruby?" The blonde called out warily when the hooded girl didn't pop back into view right away. He watched on in silence, gritting his teeth, as the seconds continued to roll by. His pulse raced as what seemed like an eternity, but was in actuality merely a minute, came. Just as he was ready to plunge into the darkness in order to search for her, a spine-chilling howl rang clearly amidst the night.

Jaune spun on the balls of his feet, his eyes darting to and fro, quickly homing in on the Alpha Beowolf, who came into view when it smacked a tree aside in its slow trot into the clearing. The larger than average creature of Grimm had about as much black, vulnerable skin as it did bone-white armor, with lethally sharpened spike protruding at various points along its body, mostly clustered along its back.

The creature's eyes seemed to stare into his soul as their gazes met, piercing blue eyes contrasted by the seemingly endless abyss of red that was the Alpha's eyes. It began to run forward, gaining velocity exponentially. Gritting his teeth and doing his best to steady his trembling grip on Crocea Mors, Jaune, too, charged at his adversary.

Jaune then watched as a red blur shot past him, speeding to meet the Alpha. He would've smiled if he hadn't been letting out a war cry.

"You know, now that I think about it, it's not that strange that a date with you, of all people, would include fighting Grimm." Jaune commented out of the blue, having finally worked up the courage to break the silence that had hung over the two ever since they defeated the last of the Grimm horde and went on their way.

"It had all that other normal stuff at first!" Ruby defended, her voice soft, as the sullen look Jaune had been contemplating about for quite a while lifted momentarily.

"Yeah, I guess it did. Did you…" He trailed.

"Did I what?" The redhead asked, curious as to why he hesitated.

"Did… you enjoy yourself? I know everyone thinks of me as ignorant, but I'm not _that_ unaware. You looked… bummed out." The blonde said, his slow delivery showing how much thought he was putting into his words.

Ruby looked over in shock at her companion, who was turning his head to the right in order to avoid facing her. She wanted to assure him she had; she really did! True, Ruby found herself a bit distracted… maybe a bit more frequently than she had knew. She frowned when she reached a realization, before reaching for Jaune's hand and lacing her fingers with his. It was the Arc's turn to look over and find she was looking everywhere but him.

"I didn't do a good job on my end, did I?"

Jaune wasn't sure how to respond, so he didn't, and merely stroked a thumb over her knuckles.

"I'm sorry, Jaune. I really am."

"Hey now, don't go off saying that. I was just asking so I could get it right the second time."

"Yeah… Jaune. Can I ask you a question? A serious question."

"Of course, what is it?"

"Do you ever… have you… what I'm trying to say…" Ruby trailed, unknowingly squeezing Jaune's hand firmly.

"What is it? You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"

"You really mean that, don't you?" She asked, stopping to stare into his eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing the admittedly subtle segue.

Ruby let go of his hand and took a few steps away from their path to the grave.

"Why are you becoming a Huntsman, Jaune?" The reaper asked, turned away from him and leaning against a thin tree; the bitter winter having stripped it of its leaves.

"What?" The blonde asked, thrown off by the seemingly random question.

"Why did you come to Beacon? What motivated you to lie your way into something that nobody seemed to think you could do?" Ruby demanded, her voice cracking even as it went up in volume.

Jaune actually took a step back, shocked at how hurtful his friend had all of a sudden become.

"I… I… I guess, because of my family." He whispered quietly, staring intently at the back of Ruby's hood. She adjusted it, and the Knight had to strain his ears to hear her next question.

"What does that mean?"

"I… my… my name. I'm an Arc. It's a title I have to live up to - one I _want_ to live up to. To bring honor to the name by protecting the people." Jaune explained as he walked up to Ruby, putting a hand on her shoulder. He didn't fail to notice the way she flinched at the contact.

"To do good things. That's why we're doing this, right? To keep the people safe, protect humanity, be heroes?" The redhead asked, turning, so silver eyes could gaze into cobalt ones.

"Yes." Jaune said, deciding to let Ruby get to the point whenever she felt like it, which was apparently now, as she threw herself against his chest plate and firmly wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Then why do I feel like _this,_ Jaune?" She sobbed, locking her teary eyes with his, the indecision and confusion in them evident.

"Feel like what?" He asked, almost afraid to do so.

"Like the longer I'm here, the more things speed by, and the world is getting darker and darker! We're supposed to be protectors of the world, our enemies are supposed to be the Grimm!"

"Th- they are, Ruby." Jaune tried to reason, a bit overcome by the unexpected revelation.

"People _died,_ Jaune. On my first mission! Do you realize that?!"

"I… guess that's true. But you can't blame yourself for that, Ruby!"

"They didn't have to die, Jaune! I didn't mean to kill any of them. I was hitting all of them with the blunt side of Crescent Rose, while they fired _**live**_ rounds of ammunition at me! All so they could _**flood**_ Grimm into a city full of people who either treated them horribly because of who they were born as or people who watched it all happen and didn't say a word!"

Jaune's stomach dropped at Ruby's words, realizing just how much the entire incident had been haunting her. He racked his brain for anything to say, anything that would make everything better and stop the sounds of despair coming from the girl who was trying to hide herself from the world in his arms.

He had nothing.

"Beacon was supposed to be the best thing to have ever happened for me. It was my dream. To have the opportunity to share it with Yang only seemed like another dream come true. It was a chance to get away from little ol' Patch. I love Patch, but Beacon was my chance to see the world for the bigger place that it is. And it did; I got my team, JNPR, all our classmates… _you_." Ruby said hesitantly.

"But?" Jaune asked, knowing she had more to say.

"But I'm _terrified,_ Jaune. The more of the world I see, the worse it gets. All the hate between Faunus and humans, crime lords like Roman, the way people are in our lives one moment and gone the next! My whole life I've had to run through things and I've always tried to do it with a smile. I never knew my Mother, I had to bumble through life with a single Father, who we meant the world to but was abandoned to do it on his own, the first weapon that was ever _truly_ my own was built for ripping through flesh and I had to learn that the hard way! I was thrust into my dream school and given a team full of people who expected me to lead them, my first mission had casualty rates in the double digits, Jaune! The one thing I can't outrun is the truth, and sometimes I think that it's all I want in the world."

"I... can't say that isn't all true, but I can tell you that they are truths you wouldn't want to push away! You have your team, you have Beacon, your family, those who love you! You have me! You said so yourself, you can't give up! You're a leader, and I'll always be here to make sure you don't." Jaune explained, his voice soft as he rubbed small circles into Ruby's back, until she shoved him away.

" _You can't promise that!_ " She yelled, venom lacing her words as she glared at him.

"W- what do you mean?"

"I'd bear the entire world's weight on my shoulders happily if it meant you could promise things like that, but you _**can't**_! It's not just Grimm out there anymore, Jaune! There's… people, out there. They're not just desperate people trying to survive! Sometimes it seems like all they want to do is watch the world burn! I watch after RWBY, and would do all in my power to protect them. But… if I ever came back to find someone...while I was gone…" Ruby couldn't find it in herself to finish, and slumped down to the floor, too numb to feel the stingingly cold snow.

Jaune stared down at Ruby, unable to fathom how he could've never seen it. The _first_ friend he made at Beacon had been ripping herself apart in silence, all the while he worried about his own petty, little, insecurities and had the gall to give up. He took a seat beside her, taking her hand in his.

"This is all my fault, you know?" Jaune finally said after a moment of silence.

"What?" She whispered, leaning into Jaune's shoulder.

"I should've taken you out on a date months ago. Maybe then you wouldn't be worrying about things like these."

"You're not funny." Ruby whispered, a bit hurt that she apparently wasn't being taken seriously.

"No, I'm not. Then again, I'm not making a joke. I get that you're sick of the truth, but there's one more disappointing little tidbit you left out." The blonde began to say, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Ruby Rose won't be on Remnant forever. One sad, sad, day, you'll be gone. The world will lose a bright spark, and there will _never_ be anything quite like it _ever_ again. You want to know something even worse?"

Ruby's breathing hitched, and Jaune could feel her body shaking.

"I've gone and wasted a lot of time. I was too much of a dolt, chasing after Weiss, worrying about my place in life, in general, just being myself when I could've been with you. There aren't many things I can promise you, you're right. But let me promise you this. I, Jaune Arc, will do everything in my power to assure that Ruby Rose spends the rest of her life happily, surrounded by the ones she loves. It may not always be easy, there will undoubtedly be rough patches, but I'm going to stand beside you every step of the way. Even if… there ends up being someone else standing besides you, I'll always be there. The world… it's a lot harsher than it has any right to be, but I'm determined to make mine the brightest one it can be. And do you want to know something else, Ruby?"

At this point, the Reaper had gone still, entranced by his words, and he had to turn her chin with his fingers to make her face him. He leaned forward, never breaking eye contact.

" _You're my world._ "

 _Thus Kindly I Scatter_

Ruby read over the words etched into the stone tablet like she had done so the - oh, so many - times before. The bluff by the cliff always seemed to cut off from the world when she visited, with the wind dying down and the sounds of the birds from the trees disappearing.

"Hi there, Mom. I missed you. It's been awhile. Life has been… hectic. I… I got really lost in it, for awhile. I tried to stay strong, for everyone's sake. But… I learned I don't have to. I found a… well, _friend_ isn't the right word anymore," she said with a blush as she looked over her shoulder to look at Jaune. "And… I think he can help. He's no you… but maybe that's a good thing. I don't want to pester you with my problems and I'm sure it only hurts you to hear about them. But now, we can get back to the happy things. The simple things. I…" She trailed in a fit of giggles. "Don't tell anybody, but I had my first kiss today. That's… it. I'm sorry I don't have much more to say, but this whole visit was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I'm technically still on the first date. I promise to tell you all about the rest of it the next time, alright?" Ruby smiled as she turned around, making eye contact with Jaune, who began to walk towards her.

"So, uh… this is her, huh?" The blonde awkwardly asked.

"Yeah. Jaune Arc, meet Summer Rose. Summer Rose, meet Jaune Arc." The Reaper commented, a nervous smile on her face as she introduced the two.

"Uh, pleasure to meet you, ma'am." The Arc stated, deciding to focus his gaze on the words on the grave. They both stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

"She's not going to say anything back, you know that, right?" Ruby asked with a giggle.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." He admitted with a hesitant smile. She met his gaze then looked away, a red tinge on her face, though it wasn't entirely due to the brisk winds.

They both fell into a comfortable silence, and Jaune found the tombstone had a haunting beauty to it, with the sheer drop beyond it and the forest in the background. _'Thus Kindly I scatter.'_ The words echoed in his head, and it began to dawn on him that Ruby's mother almost certainly didn't die here. Patch had its share of Grimm, but nothing that a Huntress would fall to. _He_ wouldn't even fall here. It made sense, though, for the grave not to be with the body. Grimm hardly ever left much evidence behind beyond torn armor and weapons.

"So, Summer Rose, huh?"

"Summer Rose, yeah." Ruby replied in a soft voice.

"That's a nice name." Jaune said just as quietly, though he walked over to the Reaper and draped an arm around her. She merely smiled at him and leaned into his touch, grateful for the warmth he provided.

An indefinite amount of time passed, both of them content to stand there in each other's presence, until it was finally Ruby that pulled away from him.

"I think I'm just about ready to go. Thank you _so_ much for this, Jaune. For _all_ of this. I… I needed this. And maybe...even if I didn't know it at first… I needed you."

"I'm glad to hear it. And don't thank me, Ruby. If anything, I want to thank you for letting me be there for you when you needed me."

"You're really one of a kind, aren't you, Jaune Arc?" She asked as she caressed his cheek unknowingly, much to the blonde's surprise, but not displeasure.

"I do my best." The Arc replied modestly, putting his hand over Ruby's and giving it an affectionate squeeze. His heartbeat spiked as she closed her eyes and slowly began to lean forward. He was quick to do the same.

Jaune watched Ruby walk away, typing away at her Scroll to update Yang. He turned once more to face the tombstone, his eyes being drawn to the words etched into the stone again. He then tugged at his collar as he chuckled nervously.

"That, uh… must've been awkward. I'm sorry?"

The tombstone didn't comment.

A frown began to make its way across Jaune's face as he began to think of his own mother. He hadn't talked to her since… well, since he had all but basically ran away to Beacon. Guilt instantly wracked his person as the blonde realized he had forgotten all about his family since he arrived at school. Sure, he had occasionally _mentioned_ them, his sisters especially, he had never really _thought_ about them. Jaune let out a sigh as he came to the conclusion that it wasn't an issue that would solve itself over time; he needed to address it at some point, and sooner rather than later.

"I should be so thankful I have a Mother to come back to, shouldn't I?" He said aloud, running his hand against the cool marble surface of the tombstone. Jaune then cast a sad look back at Ruby. Just thinking of the possibility of his mom being gone felt like a punch to the gut, he couldn't fathom the thought of never having gotten to know her in the first place. An immense wave of nausea ran over the Knight as he realized something even worse; _she had never gotten to know her own daughter_. Jaune's grip tightened on the stone unintentionally as he took a deep breathe. He swiped at his eyes when he finally composed himself, looking up to see Ruby waving at him, beckoning him. With a smile, he started to jog over to her, happily taking her offered arm in his as they started down the single path they had came from.

Jaune smiled to himself as the redhead dipped her head onto his shoulder, muttering a vow into her hair.

"I promise...I _**will**_ watch your daughter grow up, for the both of us."

The Scroll seemed to screech loudly whilst making the most annoying noise ever heard as it vibrated against the small, wooden table. Yang groaned as the infernal machine dragged her from her slumber. After a seemingly endless night of waiting for word from Ruby, the buxom, older sister had finally succumbed to fitful slumber.

The Scroll beeped a second time, and this time the blonde leapt out of bed once her senses had fully returned to her. After casting a quick glance over at the room's occupants, Yang returned to her bed and turned on her Scroll. Her heart soared when she saw it was from Ruby.

 _Hey there, sis. It's Ruby here, but you already know that, huh? Yeaaahhh. Anyways, we're on our way back. We're going to be taking the first Airship back to Vale. It's scheduled for 6:00 AM, so we'll be staying in the small town for a bit. You know the one._

Yang bit her lip, relieved that Ruby had finally gotten back to her, but a little put off by the contents of the message. She was quick to reply.

 _You talked with your Mom then? Is everything alright? Is Jaune treating you right? Just say the word and I'll thrash him._

The older sister only hesitated for a moment, her eyes lingering over the word Mom before thumbing the send button. She let out a sigh and turned to see Blake staring down at her from her bunk. Yang shot her a thumbs up, which seemed to satisfy her partner, as she turned over, presumably to try and reach the soothing oblivion of sleep once more. The Brawler wasn't surprised when she felt her Scroll vibrate again; Ruby had always been a quick typer.

 _Yeah, we talked. As for Jaune, he's being very respectable and really… he's a big comfort right now. So, no thrashing, please._

She smiled as she read over the text, not very surprised about Jaune's actions, but glad nonetheless. Yang made a mental note to question Ruby about how he was _specifically_ comforting her later on, though her attention wavered when she picked up on what Ruby hadn't talked about.

 _That's good to hear. But…_ a pause. _Is everything alright?_

Yang put the Scroll down, and apprehension began to grow in her as time passed. She finally picked up her Scroll to send another message when a new text filled the bottom of the screen.

 _Everything is… like it's always been; manageable. But… I think it's going to only get easier from now on. I realized I don't have to carry everything by myself anymore._

Yang wasn't sure how to take that.

 _You know you've always had me. Always will, right?_

This time, the response came almost immediately.

 _I know that! It's just… well, now I have you_ **and** _Jaune!_

"Ohhhh, yikes." Ruby winced as she pocketed her Scroll, turning to see Jaune giving her a curious look.

"What's wrong?" The Arc asked, obviously concerned. The duo were walking down a larger trail, the last sighting of civilisation having been a few miles back.

"Nothing, really. Yang just told me... not to expect the team to go easy on the training tomorrow cause of all this! So, that stinks, but what can you do, right? Haha…" She trailed nervously, motioning for Jaune to stop.

"Yeah, that sounds rough. Uh… is that the place?" The Arc asked as he pointed at a large cabin.

"Yup."

 _A beat._

"So, who's place is it?" Jaune ignored the off-handed stare his lovely date gave him.

"My home, duh!" Ruby exclaimed as she continued walking towards the home.

"Oh, nice."

 _Another beat._

"Wait!" Jaune screeched, grabbing Ruby's wrist and pulling her to the side in a mad dash.

"What's wrong?!" She screamed, or tried to, before the Knight threw his hand over her mouth, silencing her verbal discontent. He ignored the irritated silver eyes staring at him questioningly over his thumb.

"Isn't your home where your father lives?!"

His response came in the form of a raised eyebrow.

"Ruby, I thought you liked me. What did I _do_ wrong?"

This remark earned him two raised eyebrows, along with what sounded like muffled laughter. Jaune fell forward as Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. He heard loud knocking as he was picking himself up off the floor. His face was ashen.

"I'm...sorry, Summer. It looks like this is the end." He muttered to himself in defeat, lifting his head to see that the front door was open. A tall, blonde man was visible over Ruby's shoulder. Presumably Mr. Xiao Long.

"Daddy! I missed you, too!" "What am I doing here?"

Jaune flinched, his intuition and imagination filling in the other half of the conversation.

"Well… What? No, of course not! Yang? Oh, no, no, she's not the one with me. Another blonde!"

He cradled his head in his arms. Jaune just hoped Ruby wouldn't beat herself up too much at his funeral. With a small, morbid, chuckle, the Arc began walking to his doom.

"I can handle one man. A single person can't hurt me so badly if I focus entirely on defending my vital organs." He muttered to himself, intent on assuring himself he could survive through the night. Jaune looked up, his drooped gaze having shown him Ruby's heels, informing him he was at the door. His eyes start to trail up.

A pair of hunting boots, some relatively hairy legs, cargo shorts, a vest, and golden stubble on an admittedly chiseled chin. Jaune held his gaze, fear's grip on him not allowing him to meet the man's eyes.

"A girl? Oh, that's great. For a second there, I thought I was going to have to do some certain bad things." Taiyang bellowed happily, his tone far too jovial for the subtly implied violence the older man was so ready to commit.

"Noop, he's a he. A guy, dad."

With that, Jaune could feel a change in the air around him, it suddenly grew silent, and he felt a sense of fear akin to knowing you were about to die but didn't know how.

' _This is it. This is it. This is it.'_ The young Knight thought as each second of silence that dragged on spelt doom to him. He expected to be struck down, probably with a gun.

" _ **Oh."**_ Was all Taiyang said to his daughter's words, his eyes locked through the dark with the younger blonde.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Fate: And there we have it.**

 **Prick: Holy crap, this took awhile. I was very fickle with this story. Hell, for a good awhile, I debated having it be a dream, having it tie into the main story or not. Very conflicted, tell me what you guys want. Fate suggested I make this a "Slice Of Life" for Jaune and Ruby, whatever that means. I'm assuming he means I use this story to write all the happiness that is rather absent in Lunar Rose. Review and tell me what you guys want!**

 **Fate: Not just Lancaster, all of Beacon and RWBY. Just a happy little Slice of Life AU until Prick realizes he can't write fluff for more than a few thousand words and turn this into Lunar Rose like he almost did in this story already. Seriously, I watched him write angst and stopped then asked, "Fate, I need help, these type of problems can't be magically absolved by a hug or a kiss on the head." He said it less elegantly, but, you get the point. So, I guess we'll make a poll or something to see if people would like to see more of this AU.**


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